The history of Russia knows many amazing women, whose names have remained not only in the pages of boring textbooks, but also in the memory of the people. One of them is Maria Volkonskaya. She is the great-granddaughter of M.V. Lomonosov, the daughter of the hero of the war of 1812 and the wife of the Decembrist.
Princess Maria Volkonskaya: a brief biography
On January 6, 1807, General Nikolai Raevsky and his wife Sophia had a daughter, Mashenka. The family was large (six children) and friendly, despite the temper of the mother and the severity of the father. The sisters loved to play music, and Mary sang beautifully, and guests were often in the house. Including A.S. Pushkin, who even for some time was in love with sixteen-year-old Masha.
In the winter of 1825, Mary was married to 37-year-old Prince Sergei Volkonsky. Not for love, but not forcibly.
She rarely saw her husband forever busy, even giving birth to her firstborn away from her husband. And I learned about the princeās participation in the conspiracy after the failed uprising. After the trial of her husband, Maria Volkonskaya obtained permission to follow him to Siberia. This action was not accepted by her family, but over time, even the stern father treated him with understanding.
Accompanying her husband to various jails, Maria Nikolaevna lived at the Blagodatnoy mine, in Chita, at the Petrovsky plant and Irkutsk, having lost several children in these wanderings.
Brought up in a prosperous and well-to-do family, Princess Maria Volkonskaya, the wife of the Decembrist, courageously endured the hardships of the life of convicts, never complained, supported her spouse and raised children. Those who survived.
She spent 30 long years with her husband in Siberia and returned to their homeland only in 1855. In 1863, Maria Nikolaevna died of heart disease in the estate of her daughter in the village of Voronki, and a year later her husband was buried next to her.
Character similar to steel
Princess Maria Volkonskaya is one of those strong and unyielding personalities who, even through the centuries, never cease to delight and arouse respect. Her character is distinguished by a strong will and desire to follow her ideals without bowing to anything.
Having grown up in greenhouse conditions, under the wing of a stern, but caring and loving father, Maria Nikolaevna, finding herself in extreme circumstances, did not accept, did not submit to the opinion of the world and the will of her relatives.
Upon learning of her husbandās arrest, Maria, who had just recovered from a difficult birth, categorically rejected her fatherās proposal to terminate the marriage with the prince and went to Petersburg, hoping to see her husband. All her relatives prevented this, and letters to her husband were intercepted and opened. Several times, brother Alexander tried to take her from St. Petersburg, but Volkonskaya left only when her son fell ill.
And after the trial, at which Prince Volkonsky was sentenced to exile and hard labor, Mary turns to the tsar with a request to allow her to accompany her husband. And when permission was obtained, neither her fatherās threats nor her motherās curse kept her back. Leaving his first child at her mother-in-law, Volkonskaya leaves for Siberia.
It was a real struggle waged by an 18-year-old girl for the right to be with her husband not only in joy, but also in grief. And Maria Nikolaevna won this fight, despite the fact that even her mother turned her back on her, who did not write a line to her in Siberia. And if Nikolai Raevsky at the end of his life was able to appreciate the act of his daughter, then her mother never forgave her.
"In the depths of the Siberian ores ..."
Now itās hard to even imagine how you can drive hundreds of miles in winter in a wagon. But Volkonskaya was not afraid of either frosts, or miserable inns, nor meager food, nor the threat of the governor of Irkutsk, Zeidler. But the look of her husband in a torn sheepskin coat and shackles shocked, and Maria Nikolaevna knelt in front of him and kisses the shackles on her legs.
Previously, Volkonskaya came to Siberia to her husband Ekaterina Trubetskaya, who became Mary and senior friend and associate. And then another 9 wives of the Decembrists joined these two women.
Not all of them were of noble origin, but they lived very amicably, and the noblewomen eagerly studied everyday wisdom from commoners, because often they did not know how to do the most elementary thing - to bake bread or make soup. And how later the Decembrists rejoiced at the cooking of their wives, whom they warmed and supported by the heat of soul of these women.
In the recent past, the effeminate aristocrat Maria Volkonskaya managed to win love even from local peasants and simple convicts, whom she helped, often spending her last money.
And when the exiles were allowed to move to Irkutsk, the houses of the Volkonsky and Trubetskoys became real cultural centers of the city.
At the call of the heart or at the behest of duty?
There are many articles and books devoted to this amazing woman, who was not only the youngest among the wives of the Decembrists, but also one of the first to decide on such an unusual act at that time. However, not only this is of interest to Maria Volkonskaya, whose biography still attracts the attention of researchers.
There is a widespread belief that Maria Nikolaevna did not love her husband. Yes, and could not love, because before the wedding she was barely acquainted with him, and after that for a year she lived with the prince for three months with strength, and even then she rarely saw him.
What then prompted Volkonskaya to sacrifice her well-being and the lives of future children? Just a sense of duty to the spouse?
There is another point of view. Maria Volkonskaya, if she didnāt love her husband at first, then later respect and even worship before him grew into love. In the words of Shakespeare: "She loved him for his torment ..."
And perhaps the well-known culturologist Yu. Lotman is right , who believed that the wives of the Decembrists - refined ladies who grew up in romance novels and dreamed of exploits in the name of love - that is how their romantic ideals were realized.
"Notes of Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya"
Upon returning home, Princess Volkonskaya spoke of her life in Siberia in Notes. They were written in French and were intended exclusively for son Michael.
After the death of his mother, he did not immediately decide to publish them, but nevertheless translated into Russian and even read passages to N. A. Nekrasov. The notes made a very strong impression on the poet; he even cried, listening to the life of the convicts and their wives.
"Notes" were published in 1904 in the best printing house of St. Petersburg - on expensive paper with prints and phototypes.
Assessment of contemporaries and descendants
The actions of the Decembrists, who decided to oppose the tsarist regime sanctified by traditions, can be treated differently. But the act of their 11 wives, who went after the convicted husbands to distant and terrible Siberia, is certainly worthy of respect.
Already in the 19th century, progressive members of society endowed these women with almost halos of saints. N. A. Nekrasov dedicated the poem āRussian Womenā to them, in which the real events described by Maria Volkonskaya were reflected.
In the XX century, scientific and fiction books were written about the wives of the Decembrists, films were made, monuments were erected for them, for example, in Chita and in Irkutsk.
Maria Volkonskaya, whose biography is reflected in Zapiski, still remains the brightest figure among the wives of the Decembrists due to her youth and surprisingly strong integral character.